Chicken Biryani With Mint And Cilantro”Hyderabadi Biryani”

04.19.12

Biryani is a rice-based dish layered with meat and/or vegetables. The rice and meat are cooked separately, and then layered and baked together or cooked on low flame. This allows the aromas from various spices to get fully infused, making biryani highly enjoyable and delectable. Often made at my house as a party dish, I decided to make it as a weeknight treat for my family to enjoy! It is elaborate but those who have tasted biryani know it’s worth the effort.

Traditionally, the dish is served with a raita made with cucumber, tomatoes and onions. The yogurt helps to cool the palette from the heat of the spices in the biryani. I made this with lots with caramelized onions, fresh cilantro, mint, green chillies, yogurt and saffron. The saffron turns the white basmati rice to a beautiful sunny yellow color and also gives it a lot of flavor and aroma.

There are many different types of biryani and methods of cooking it. This one has cooked meat and rice layered together which is called “pukki” biryani which means where the rice and meat have been cooked separately and then layered. The “kachha” type is where the raw meat is marinated for a couple of hours and then uncooked rice is layered and then cooked together (a little intimidating for me). I like to be always sure about the meat being cooked right and well. This recipe comes from a very close family friend who is a wonderful cook and hails from Hyderabad which is in the southern part of India, known for it’s great food especially biryani and hence the name”Hyderabadi Biryani”.

My husband was thrilled to see this for dinner last night. I served it with dahi wadas (ground fried lentils in a creamy yogurt sauce) potatoes, salad and papad. It was such a delight to see my hubby and daughter enjoy it, we had our own little party!

Note: The biryani was mild, so for those of you who would like to make it spicy , just adjust the spice level by adding extra chillies .

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds chicken -I used skinless chicken thighs and drumsticks. The bones help the chicken to be moist and juicy.

Then, add the onions and fry till a warm golden color.( I like to add a dash of salt while the onions are browning, helps them to release their water and the onions brown faster).

Add the cilantro, mint, green chillies, garlic and ginger paste and fry for a minute or two.

Add the chicken and saute. Add the red chilly powder, turmeric and salt to taste.

Fry this well for a couple of minutes. Then add the yogurt and continue to fry.

Add 1/2 cup hot boiling water to it, cover and let the chicken cook on medium heat for 20 to 25 minutes. The chicken gravy should be thick. After the chicken is cooked, if you feel there is too much water, thicken the gravy by taking the lid off and let it boil away for 15 minutes.

While the chicken is cooking, cook the rice and keep aside.

After the chicken is cooked, the oil that floats on top, carefully with the help of a large spoon, remove it in a bowl and keep aside. You will need this while layering the biryani in the end.

Add the lime juice to this reserved oil mixture with a pinch of sugar.

Warm milk and add saffron to it and keep aside.

Keep the cooked chicken and rice aside, separately. Now, all you have to do is layer the biryani and bake it.

Layering the biryani:

Pour the chicken with gravy in a large bowl which is the bottom layer.

Add white rice on top. Sprinkle the reserved oil on top.

Add the warmed milk with crushed saffron threads to it and pour on top of the rice.

Seal the bowl tightly with aluminium foil, so that no steam escapes while it is in the oven.

I love biryani so much. I’ve never been able to make one looking as amazing as this…absolutely incredible! I love the look of the fresh ingredients… something I need to add to my list of dishes to make soon!

Hi Charles,
Thank you so much. I find that hard to believe that the biryani didn’t look as amazing as mine. I am so flattered because this compliment coming from you is big. I am a huge fan of your cooking and blog. I hope you try this version. Thanks again.

I love the saffron on the rice. I finally have a saffron stash and cannot wait to use it. Biryani! Yum! I made this once before and loved it… it was quite a project but well worth it. Next time I will remember to make a raita to go along with it.

Hi Margarita,
It is a project but worth it. I usually make these elaborate dishes when friends are coming over. Thought I would surprise hubby by making it as a weeknight meal. The good thing about this dish is that it only gets better with time. Tastes even better the next day. I hope you try this version and please let me know if you liked it.

Hi,
I agree with you. One has more control over the kind of ingredients and how much oil goes in while preparing food at home. I prefer the home made biryani.The biryani’s one gets in restaurants are delicious but have too much grease and spices in them.

Hi Asmita! Wow after the final touch the rice becomes beautiful color. I can almost smell the nice aroma from there. It requires some steps yet it’s totally worth it at the end when you have this. I am trying to reduce carbs now (gained so much weight!) but I will have trouble controlling my portion in front of this rice… 😉

Hi Lin,
Thanks so much. Dahi wadas are absolutely delicious and easy to make. Basically, lentils that are soaked, ground to a paste with ginger and cumin and then fried in the shape of small balls and then immersed in water and you squeeze the water out and throw it in a creamy yogurt sauce.The only thing that takes time, is the frying of the wadas. Dahi wadas can also be eaten at tea time as a snack or served as a side dish with lunch/ dinner. If you do try them , let me know if you like it.

Asmita, you have done justice to biriyani by having all the basic masalas that is a M-U-S-T for biriyani and
made the preparation part fairly simple compared to other methods.
phew..that just made my life easy.

Love that you have lots of mint and corriander in it.

Knowing me,(since I have a reputation for making the biriyani slightly over-moist 😉 I will probably pour 3 3/4 water for rice since I don’t drain water completely after I wash it.I will stick with the rest of your instructions perfectly.

Definitely will try this weekend and Iam 100% sure it will taste great!

Hi Indu,
Thank you so much. I hope you enjoy this. The am lazy when it comes to cooking rice. I just put it in a rice cooker. So while the chicken is cooking the rice is ready and sitting hot in the rice cooker.Just makes it a little easy.

Hi Paula,
Thank you so much. I hope you try this out. It is a little elaborate but full of flavor. You can find cardamom pods in any local Indian grocery store or even your local supermarket should carry it. The cardamom seeds when inside a pod have the flavors locked in. And when the pods hit the hot oil the flavor gets intensified. Also, it won’t be fun biting into the seeds along with the rice. If you cannot find the pods, then you could just grind some cardamom seeds or buy cardamom powder and add 1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder to the chicken along with the red chilly and turmeric powder. And also sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder on the rice along with the reserved oil and milk on top.
After the biryani is cooked and is ready to be served, I remove the whole spices from it and then serve it. I hate biting into a clove or a cardamom pod.

Hi Simran,
Thanks so much for visiting and for your kind comment. I hope you were able to subscribe. There is a button on the right hand side of the page, get posts via email. Thanks for letting me know that it was a bit confusing. I shall try and fix that right away.

asmita, this looks insane. i just told my husband about your recipe and he’s like make it. lol. i’m bookmarking this and the next time i buy chicken (which is rare), i’m sooooooooooo making this. PERFECTION GIRL!

When I’m in restaurants I often order a Biryani, but it’s a dish I rarely make at home. I wonder why, because it’s pretty easy and definitely tasty! In fact I really haven’t done much with Indian flavors for a couple of months at least — shocking! Anyway, really nice recipe, and you’ve made me hungry! Thanks for this.

Great infusion of ingredients you have added especially the spices and saffron strands. This will be a hit for us but I would love to replace the chicken with lamb for my other half does not eat chicken. Makes a perfect complete meal.

I love love love biryani, but we make it totaly differently in goa. ours is more brown in colore…
but I have an issue with all biryanis. I hate to find small bone pieces while eating my food, its a total turn off. I know the bones give flavoure and add moisture but I just cant help it. Nonetheless I am looking forward to try your recipe asmita soon, but boneless. 😉

Hi Helene,
I know how you feel about getting a bone in your food. My husband hates it too. So, what I do is I buy chicken thighs with the bones and then debone it by cutting around the bone. But I do throw the bone in for the added flavor and before serving the biryani, pick the bones out which are easy to fish out. I also add 1 or 2 drumsticks (my daughter loves it ) so that too adds flavor.

This biryani looks amazing! I’ve heard of people steaming their biryani in the oven, but I’ve always been too intimidated to try. I’m going to use your method next time I make biryani, and I’ll let you know how it goes!

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